The Tunnels of Omeiron
by Emzor95
Summary: While Scotty and two red shirts repair the generators underneath the surface of the planet Omeiron, a monster lies in wait which could potentially destroy the planet and the entire star system.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

In a distant system, many light years away from the Earth, the starship ENTERPRISE and her crew orbited the planet Omeiron.

Down in the transporter room of the ENTERPRISE, Lieutenant Montgomery Scott and Doctor Leonard McCoy continued their long running argument about the safety of the transporter beam.

'I'm telling you McCoy, it's the safest mode of transport I know! There are more shuttle craft accidents than there are transporter accidents.' Scott said in an exasperated tone, 'It's energy efficient, fast and safe. You can't go wrong.'

'But Scotty, there is always the chance that there's a malfunction and your signal can be lost in the stream, or worse, it can be mixed up and you come back a mangled mess.' McCoy argued back, 'I don't care if it's only a minimum chance of-' he cut himself off as Captain James Kirk and Mr. Spock entered the room.

'Well gentlemen, sorry to break up the discussion but are you ready to leave?' Kirk asked with a knowing smile on his face.

Both men agreed hurriedly and the four of them, plus two red shirts, took their places on the transporter pads, McCoy hesitating slightly.

'Energize' Kirk commanded, and soon the six men were standing on the surface of Omeiron surrounded by a welcoming party.

'President Hismo, it's a pleasure to meet you' Kirk said with a diplomatic smile plastered on his face. He reached out his hand to shake the President's.

'Likewise Captain. And once again, thank you for agreeing to help us.'

'No problem at all. Mr Scott here is our engineer and he and Ensign Walters and Ensign Coltrane will help make the repairs to your generators.'

'Thank you, my men will show you the way.' The president motioned for two of his men to lead the three to the tunnel which lead to the generator system that practically kept the planet running.

Once Spock and McCoy were introduced, the three were then shepherded to the royal palace where more treaties between the Federation and the Omeirian's would take place.

...

Meanwhile, traveling through both time and space, the TARDIS hurtled through the time vortex towards an unknown destination.

'I've set the controls to random' a man in a brown, pinstripe suit, known only as the Doctor, said with a maniacal grin on his face, 'Who knows where we'll end up!'

A tall, brown haired girl, dressed in an all too normal jeans, t-shirt and white jumper compared to the scene around her, looked up from the other side of the console smiling.

'I love it when you say stuff like that.' Emily said, flicking a few switches on the console, 'It's not everyday I get to hear you say that you don't know something.'

The Doctor just laughed and pulled the final lever on the console to initiate the landing of the TARDIS, and a wheezing, groaning noise began as the central column moved up and down and the TARDIS exited the vortex.

Once the noise had stopped the Doctor ran and grabbed his coat from a large coral column near the exit and then stood right in front of the door.

'You ready?' He asked

'Definitely' Emily replied, smiling. The Doctor's smile was infectious.

He opened the door for her and she stepped out first, into a very dark and cold cavern.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

On the way through the tunnels Scotty was constantly on edge. Every so often he would hear a faint growling noise and a scuffle of feat moving away quickly and kicking loose stones. After being told by his Omeirian guides the stories of monsters that roamed these tunnels, Scott heard any and every sound that was made. It was clear these had been sabotaged, that was for sure. After setting to work on one of the generators it was no wonder when the silence around him was disturbed by what seemed like an ear splitting wheezing and groaning noise that Scott almost jumped out of his skin.

...

After stepping through the doorway of the TARDIS it took a moment for Emily's eyes to adjust to the gloom around them. The Doctor shut and locked the door behind them.

'I don't know why you were so excited Doctor.' She said, a hint of disappointment in her voice 'it's just a cave.'

'Ah, I'm sure there's something more interesting on the surface. Lets find our way out.'

He turned to leave but was meant by a fearsome looking Montgomery Scott, aiming a phaser at them both. The Doctor raised both of his hands in the air in surrender, and motioned Emily to do the same.

'Don't move.' Scott said in his strong Scottish accent 'who are you and why are you here?'

'I'm the Doctor and this Emily. As for why we're is a mystery even to us. Now I have a question for you, where EXACTLY is here? Oh and if you don't mind I would very much like it if you put that gun down. I hate guns.'

Scotty looked at the both of them with a puzzled look on his face. He absentmindedly lowered his phaser.

'What kind of daft question is that? You should know since you're the ones that have been sabotaging the Omeirian's generators!'

'Oh so we're on Omeiron! Thank you. And as for sabotage, we only just got here, we couldn't have done it. You saw us arrive with your own eyes.' said the Doctor.

'Well I don't know what kind of transportation you use to get around these tunnels so I don't know what to believe.' Scott said. And with that he pulled out his communicator and flipped it open.

'Scott to Captain Kirk'

'Kirk here.'

'I've found two intruders down here sir, they may have been the cause of the generator malfunctions.'

'Ok Scotty, being them up. We'll meet up where we left you. Kirk out.'

'If you don't mind coming with me?' Scott asked, motioning towards the mouth of the cavern they were in.

'Our pleasure' the Doctor answered back, exchanging a "Don't make fun of me" look with Emily who began to smirk.

'Just another everyday occurrence when you travel with the Doctor' she laughed as the Doctor knocked her playfully in the ribs with his elbow, in front of an even more confused Scott.

...

'What did you say your name was again?' Emily asked their captor as they followed him through the tunnels.

'I didn't say what my name was.' Scott said, glancing back at her.

Emily half skipped up to his side putting on her most charming smile. 'Well, what is it?'

'Montgomery Scott. I'm chief of Engineering on the ENTERPRISE.' He said, giving her a bemused smile. 'And I believe we weren't properly introduced, what's your name?'

'Emily Bocking' she replied, trying not to show her surprise at his name and the ship that he came from. She held out her hand and they shook awkwardly as they walked.

...

Once outside the Doctor and Emily looked around at the expanse of green land around them, and just over a nearby hill the turrets of a large palace stood strong. In the sky above them, two suns hung majestically, casting a warm light on the planet below.

Kirk, Spock and McCoy made their way over to the trio.

'Hello, I am Captain James Kirk of the USS ENTERPRISE. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.' Kirk said, holding out his hand to shake both the Doctor's and Emily's. 'This is my first officer Mr. Spock and my Chief Medical Officer Doctor Leonard McCoy'. Both nodded as their names were mentioned.

'I'm the Doctor and this is Emily' the Doctor replied as they shook hands.

'Now Scotty here tells me that he found you both down near the generators.' Kirk said, getting straight down to business. 'Would you care to explain why?'

'As I've already told Mr. Scott here we've landed only just very recently. My ship is down below in the tunnel system if you would like to come have a look at it...?'

'Most illogical Captain. A ship cannot just simply land in an underground tunnel system.' Spock stated from beside the Captain.

'Yes, you are very right Mr. Spock. I think we'll take them up to the ENTERPRISE for further questioning.'

And with this Kirk whipped out his communicator and flipped it open.

'ENTERPRISE, Kirk here.'

'ENTERPRISE here sir' Uhura replied.

'Six to beam up.'

'Acknowledged.'

And with that the party of six were beamed back up to the ENTERPRISE, leaving both Ensigns Walters and Coltrane to continue their work on the remaining two generators below.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Once aboard the ship the Doctor and Emily were lead along several long corridors, escorted by a security team with Kirk, Spock and McCoy in the lead. It was at this point that Emily asked the question that had been burning inside of her ever since she had learnt of the very ship that they now stood upon.

'Is this seriously the Enterprise?' She whispered to the Doctor 'we are literally on _the_ _Enterprise_?'

'Sure are.' He grinned back. Did this guy ever stop grinning?

'How, it's all just fiction? A series that was made in the 1960's. How on Earth is it even real?'

'The idea for the Star Trek series didn't just pop into Gene Roddenberry's head, everyone needs inspiration from somewhere and he got his from here.' The Doctor shrugged 'In short, poor Roddenberry was pulled into a small crack in time by something that had happened here in the future. He met everyone and learned of the Enterprise's exploits and upon returning to his own time somehow, he decided to write it all down, and voila' he flourished his hands 'it becomes a massive hit.

'Wow' Emily didn't know how else to describe what she was thinking right now and didn't get to think it through further as the ship suddenly jerked violently to the left, throwing everyone to the side. An alarm sounded and red lights gleamed in the hallways. Kirk ran to the wall and flicked a switch.

'Kirk to Bridge, what's happening up there?'

'Captain, we've got an un-identified ship firing at us off our starboard bow' Uhura answered back. 'We have tried hailing them but we are being ignored.'

'Acknowledged' Kirk said, slapping the switch back. He then turned began running towards the bridge, everyone else following right behind him. The violently continued to rock back and forth.

...

The Bridge was full of activity when the party reached it. People were moving everywhere and damage reports were coming in from all over the ship.

'Doctor McCoy' Uhura called towards them, 'sickbay requires your immediate assistance.'

'On my way' McCoy replied, and with that promptly trotted back towards the turbo lift.

'We fired a few rounds of phaser fire into the ship to scare it off, Sir' Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu reported 'we caused some damage but who knows if they'll come back of not.'

'I'm sure they will. Scotty, how's engineering?'

Scotty looked up from the engineering console, pulling a worried face.

'I don't know if I can even fix it, sir. The binary relay manifold couplings have come loose and the housing on the nacelles have cracked. Even if that can be fixed via some bloody miracle I definitely cannae get it up to full power.'

Kirk ran a hand through his hair. 'So for the moment we're sitting ducks.' He said, while Scott nodded solemnly in response.

'No, I can fix that easily enough.' Everyone turned towards Emily who had spoken to break the silence that had suddenly enveloped the control room. 'Well' she added 'I think.'

Silence once again washed over the whole Bridge while everyone stared at her. Emily felt her face starting to go red. Then Scotty broke the silence. 'That's good enough for me lassy, let's go.' And with that he grabbed her hand and was began leading her off to engineering.

'Captain, I cannot seem to identify who, or what, caused the attack.' Spock reported

'Right!' said the Doctor,taking out his glasses and moving over to the science console. He began to flick switches 'let's see what kind of ship that was.'

Spock promptly moved out of the way as the Doctor adjusted dials and looked at view screen above.

'What we have here is a Thelusian ship. But why on Earth would they be this far out from their region of space? That's light years away from where they've actually colonised and should be able to reach with their engine capabilities. And, all in all, they're a pretty peaceful race.'

'Thelusions? I've never heard of such a race before. More to the fact why should we trust what you're even saying? You are a prisoner aboard this ship and-' but the Spock cut Kirk off.

'Captain, we have met this race once before, and if I remember correctly they were, as the Doctor said, peaceful. Also, the life sign readings we collected from the ship while it was attacking definitely correspond to those known of the Thelusians.'

Kirk looked at the Doctor and then back to Spock. 'Are you suggesting that we trust him and his friend?'

'It would be most logical too after Miss Bocking offered to help repair the Enterprise and the Doctor helped to identify who caused the attack.'

Kirk stood for a moment in thought. Then he took a step forward and held out his hand.

'Welcome aboard.'


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A quiet "snip" and then a muffed 'uh ohhh...', sounded from underneath a control panel in engineering. Emily quickly pulled herself from inside the panel and kneeled just in front of it as an urgent bleeping began and she flicked a few switches and surveyed the readouts in front of her. 'That's not good...'

Scott, who had been working in a similar panel nearby quickly pulled his head out and looked at her as she quickly got to her feet and ran to a station on the other side of the room, wrenching off the side and quickly discarding it noisily on the floor, to reveal an exposed cluster of wires.

'What on Earth did ya bloody do?' He asked angrily 'Did you cut one of those wires that I specifically said to be careful not to-' as if in answer to his question the bleeping noise became louder and the the lights around engineering began to flicker and dim.

'Maybe' Emily replied, hurriedly connecting and disconnecting wires, trying to reroute the power. 'I may or may not have just accidentally hit one of the primary power cords and on the way out may hit something else that was important.'

'That was the secondary backup power system. Lass, you said you knew what you were doing!' Scott said in anguish.

'No' Emily replied, 'I said I "THINK" I can fix it, not I "CAN" fix it. They're too completely different things. Now, if I just reverse the polarity of this circuit...' She flick a few more switches and connected a few more wires, 'Fixed!' She exclaimed with a triumphant grin.

Scott shook his head, she sure was clever. Maybe he might even talk her into staying on the Enterprise. 'All in good time' he thought.

A comm unit beeped on the wall

'Scott here.' He answered.

'What just happened down there?'

Kirk asked 'We had readings of massive power failure ship wide.'

'Nothing to worry about Captain, I'll give you a full report later.' He said, shooting Emily a conspiratory smile.

'Well what ever it was, be more careful. Kirk out.'

He turned to Emily, 'Well then, what's our cover story?' He said with a wink. Emily laughed.

...

On the Bridge, Kirk had been thoroughly impressed with the way the Doctor had helped with the problem of power loss to both primary and secondary systems. Before he or Spock could move to the engineering console to help the ensign manning it the Doctor was already there, making the necessary adjustments to help keep them temporarily out of trouble.

'A man of many talents' he mused to himself, 'I've got to find out more about him.'

Interrupting his train of thought, McCoy suddenly appeared by his side. 'Jim, I've just gotten the initial life sign scans from the planet that we took while we were first surveying it and there's some pretty unusual stuff here.' He held out the tricorder for him to read the signals himself while he explained. 'It doesn't give a specific area, but we're picking up different readings from the normal flora and fauna that should be present on Omeiron. I've analysed it and I can't identify what type of life form it is at all.'

'Is it Thelusian?' Kirk asked, not falling for the same ruse again.

'No Jim, I definitely checked for that.'

'Very well then. I think I might have the perfect person for you who may be able to help you identify it.' He said with a slight smile, 'Doctor, do you mind coming over here for a second?'

The Doctor swiftly crossed the Bridge and Kirk explained the situation.

'I'd be happy to help.' He agreed. 'On one condition.'

'Name it.' Kirk replied evenly.

'My ship is still down there on the planet. Do you mind if we sent Emily down to go and fetch it? Just in case we suddenly have to warp out of orbit, I don't want to leave her behind.'

'Your ship is in the tunnels isn't it?' Kirk asked, buying time to make his decision.

'Sure is.'

'Fine. Mr. Spock, you can accompany the Doctor's companion down to the planet's surface to get his ship. Uhura, please contact Emily and tell her to report to the transporter room.'

'Aye, sir' both replied in almost exact unison. Spock turned and walked towards the turbo lift while Uhura turned to her console. The Doctor quickly walked over.

'I'll talk to her.' He said.

...

The comm unit on the wall beeped again. This time it was Emily's turn to answer as Scotty was finishing off the repair work.

'Emily here' she chimed after flicking the switch.

'Ah Em, good to hear from you. All well?' Came the Doctor's cheery voice.

'Yup, just about finished here. What's up?'

'Do you mind going down with Commander Spock to Omeiron and getting the TARDIS back up to the Enterprise? I just have a feeling she shouldn't be left down there.'

That sure unsettled her, the Doctor always insisted the TARDIS could look after herself.

'Yea, ok.'

'Oh and one last thing before you go Em. Be careful.' The Doctor said, and then cut the comm link.

Emily stood there for a minute looking at the unit in the wall. Why was the Doctor so worried all of a sudden? She shrugged, sometimes that man worried unnecessarily.

'Hey Scotty!' She called, 'Which way's the transporter room?'


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

After wondering around the corridors for ten minutes, lost, Emily fortunately bumped into Spock. The two beamed down to the surface, about one hundred metres away from the edge of the tunnels, the Omeirian palace the size of an apple in the distance.

'So your name' Emily began as they walked, 'Is it just Spock? Nothing else?'

Spock raised an eyebrow, 'Spock is the easiest segment of my name for humans to pronounce, it is much longer than that.'

Emily nodded and they continued forward in an uncomfortable silence. When they got to the mouth of the tunnel, Spock confidently led the way in.

It wasn't long though, before Spock asked the burning question in his mind, 'Your ship, how is it that it was able to land inside these tunnels?'

Emily half smiled 'I'd wondered when you'd be asking that. All the TARDIS does, essentially, is dematerialize in one spot and rematerialize in another via moving through a vortex. The vortex itself exists in between the two spaces.' Emily finished with a part lie, she didn't want him knowing everything yet. The pair were now a fair way into the tunnel labyrinth.

'Is it logical to assume that the word "TARDIS" is an acronym? May I ask for what?'

'Well-' Emily began, but Spock suddenly clamped his hand onto her arm. 'What?'

He shook his head and scanned the area around them. Then a loud scraping noise sounded from the tunnel to their right.

'Stay behind me.' The Vulcan whispered while drawing his phaser and taking a few cautious steps forward. 'This is the cavern that holds the generator Ensign Walters is working on.' Then as if re-thinking himself he gave her his tricorder, 'Aim this at the creature. It is logical to assume that as we enter the cavern, it will run past us.'

Emily took the tricorder and the pair entered the cavern. A frantic scrambling noise reached their ears and a black blur run past them as Spock held up his phaser and Emily aimed the tricorder.

The creature was gone in a flash, but what was left behind was a horrible sight on the ground in front of them.

Ensign Walters lay motionless, his entire body contorted horribly.

Spock knelt down and checked over him. 'It is obvious that the creature has done this, please hand me the tricorder.'

After quickly looking through the readings herself, Emily handed the tricorder. Spock looked over the readings and raised an eyebrow, 'Fascinating.' He murmured, 'We must hurry and get to your ship before the same is done to us.' He said, standing.

'Shouldn't we contact the Enterprise and tell them what's happened?' Emily asked worriedly, 'And what about Ensign Coltrane? Shouldn't we go and find him?'

'We do not possess the boosted communications device that Mr. Scott used, therefore we are unable to contact anyone.' Spock replied smoothly, 'For now we must continue to move.'

The next cavern entrance they came across held the generator that Ensign Coltrane had been fixing. Spock walked inside and not very long afterwards exited, shaking his head. Emily felt the fear inside of her rising.

Continuing more cautiously through the tunnels, Emily and Spock finally made it within a few turns of the cavern where the TARDIS was parked. Emily rounded the corner at a trot, excited to enter the safety of the TARDIS. But her excitement was short lived as, blocking the path to her ultimate idea of safety, stood the creature they had encountered before, bathed in the faint glow of light from the TARDIS. The creature itself was approximately half the height of a normal human and was a dark brown and spikes seemed to be the main feature that covered it's body. A part from this though, its features were indistinguishable.

Emily froze and Spock walked straight into her as he rounded the corner seconds after her. He too looked at the creature and froze, then whispered. 'We must leave the TARDIS, it is not safe to be here any more.'

'We can't just leave her!' Emily whispered back hurriedly, 'We need her.'

The creature in front of them cocked it's head slightly to one side, as if listening to their conversation. Spock continued in an almost inaudible tone, 'Do not let your feelings get in the way of what must be done. We need to leave this place, NOW.'

As if on cue, the creature leapt forward and charged towards them, running on all six legs. Spock grabbed the top of Emily's arm and dragged her along with him, both of them now running at full tilt. Left, left, right, left. It was all Emily could do to keep up with Spock who had now taken the lead. Spock turned another corner, a few seconds in front of her, and just as Emily was about to do the same what felt like a massive shove in her right side forced her to tumble over and roll into the wall on her left. She lay there motionless for a second as a white hot pain started to spread from where she had been hit. Before she had time to comprehend what had happened, Emily felt what could only have been Spock's powerful Vulcan hands lifting her up from under neath her arms.

'Come on Emily!' He yelled in an almost alarmed voice as he tried to get her up and running again.

Stumbling forward, forcing the pain to dim, Emily forced her legs to work faster as Spock pulled her along, her hand tight in his. She saw him draw his phaser and take a quick, calculating look back as he took aim and fired. There was a flash of light as the phaser beam struck the creature and then bounced off what seemed to be it's armor. The attack itself seem to have slowed its pursuit, but only minimally.

The two reached the exit of the tunnels and Spock hurriedly pushed Emily to one side while he went to the other. He aimed his phaser at the tunnel's mouth but its pursuit suddenly halted when it reached the edge of where the darkness of the tunnels turned to day. It hissed and then retreated back the way it had come.

'Fascinating.' Spock said, raising an eyebrow, 'This information will certainly be helpful.'

Emily let out a huge sigh of relief, leaned heavily against the wall and slid down it slowly. The pain in her side started to return and she noticed she had been holding where she had been hit the whole time. Taking her hand away, she took note of the massive red blood stain on her shirt, and as she lifted it up for closer inspection she felt like she was going to throw up.

'Shit.' She muttered, looking away quickly as Spock walked over to inspect the damage.

He waved his tricorder over the area. 'There is a spike approximately three centimeters long still lodged within your body. Luckily it has missed all of your major organs but is causing major blood loss. I cannot remove it without the proper medical equipment.'

'Well at least I'm alive.' Emily smirked.

Spock nodded and took out his communicator. 'Spock to Enterprise.'

'Enterprise here.' Replied a harassed sounding Captain Kirk.

'We were unsuccessful in our mission to obtain the Doctor and Emily's ship. We encountered a creature in the tunnel that fits the life form readings that Doctor McCoy was showing us earlier and it's hostile actions made it impossible for us to reach the ship. In our attempt to escape, Emily has been seriously injured, requesting permission to beam back to the Enterprise.'

There was a sad sigh from thr other end of the line. 'I'm sorry Spock, but while you were gone the Enterprise was attacked again. This time all the transporter systems have failed.'

'I'm afraid you're stuck down there.'


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

'Well that's just brilliant.' Emily muttered, 'What do we do now?'

'How long will it take to fix the transporters?' Spock continued into the communicator.

'The Doctor's looking at it now. He estimates an hour at the minimum.' Scott's voice replied 'I don't know how he's gonna manage that though.'

'Then that is going to have to do. Keep me informed of your progress. Spock out.' Spock flipped his communicator shut and returned it to his pocket.

'Seeing as we're staying here and soon it'll be night I recommend that we get going and find some shelter.' Emily said standing up and then doubling over in pain, clutching her side. She let out a pained groan.

'Yes, you are most correct.' Spock said, taking her by the arm and helping her steady herself , 'If the creature is susceptible to UV lighting then it is logical to conclude that it may come out at night to gather food.'

'You can let me go you know.' Emily said, 'I can stand by myself.' He let Emily go and she took a few tentative steps forward, but her legs soon gave way underneath her. Spock caught her before she hit the ground and then gently lowered her down.

He pulled out his tricorder once more and scanned the wounded area. He raised an eyebrow, 'There appears to be some sort of chemical that was released from the spike when it penetrated your body.'

'Let me guess, you don't have the right medical equipment to fix that either?' She replied. He nodded in agreement.

'Well, let's shake a leg. The palace is too far away to walk to with me like this and I'm assuming the Omeirian's haven't got the level of technology needed for us to be able to contact them via the communicator...how did they get those generators anyway if they haven't even developed the know how of communications?'

Spock lifted Emily off the ground. He draped her arm around his shoulders and put his hand around her waist so as to hold her steady as they started to walk. 'You are quite correct in your assumption that we cannot reach the Omeirion palace with your condition, but our preliminary scans of the planet show that there is a cave that it is possible to walk to from here. In answer to your question about the generators, I myself was also curious as to how they managed to construct them and was fascinated to find that the original inhabitants of Omeiron built them when they once inhabited the planet. They, however, disappeared without a trace one thousand years ago.'

'Those generators have been goin' pretty well then ... how far to that cave?'

'Thirty seven minutes.' Spock replied promptly.

Emily sighed, hopefully the Enterprise would have the transporters working before then.

...

'Well that's just brilliant.' The Doctor muttered from underneath the console in the transporter room. 'The whole system's kaput.'

'That's what I was tryin' to tell ya earlier.' Scott replied in an exasperated tone, 'But ooooh no, don't listen to the chief engineer of the ship.'

'I said it was kaput, not that I couldn't fix it. Well, not really fix, but more or less replace most of it with stuff I can throw together for a temporary fix. With a mind as brilliant as mine and depending if you have all the equipment I need, that should take, oh I dunno, an hour?'

'Well let's try and make it less than that.' Scotty replied, 'What do ya need?'

The Doctor looked up and smiled, 'I'll make list right now.'

...

It had been about half an hour and the cave was in sight. Emily was relieved as that meant she could finally sit down and rest. She could already feel the poison working it's way through her body and the blood loss was already making her feel slightly dizzy. It was lucky they had gotten to the cave when they had as the sky outside had already began to fade to black and the temperature was falling rapidly.

Once they were inside the cave, Spock sat Emily down on the ground and looked around them. This place was sufficient for their needs for the time being. He could guard the entrance well and would be able to see if the creature was coming for them quite easily. There was no signs in the cave that suggested anything had been here recently so all he had to do now was tend to Emily.

Spock walked to the back of the cave and found a large rock. He picked it up and took it to near where Emily was sitting, pulling out his phaser after setting it down. Even though she wouldn't admit it, Spock knew that she was starting to feel the cold that was settling in on the planet as night fell.

'Emily, do not look directly at the place where my phaser strikes the rock.' And without further warning he fired at the rock.

After the rock reached the temperature where it would retain heat properly, Spock ceased his phaser fire and looked to Emily.

'Thanks for that.' she murmured, 'Actually, just thanks for this afternoon in general.'

'It is no problem.' Spock replied. He then pulled out his communicator and it made the usual bleeping as he opened it. 'Spock to Enterprise.'

'Enterprise here.' Came the reply, 'This is Kirk, what's you status?'

'We are in a cave thirty seven minutes away from the entrance of the cave system that holds the generators. Both myself and Miss Bocking are fine, though she is weakening. What is the status of the transporters?'

'They're still being repaired. Mr. Scott and the Doctor have had a small delay and another hour has been added to the time.' His voice lowered, 'Will she be ok?'

Spock glanced up at Emily who smiled briefly. 'She will be fine. I am certain of it...but please be prompt with the repairs.'

'That's a given Mr. Spock. Kirk out.'

Spock walked over to just near the cave entrance and looked outside, there was nothing out there except the lush landscape of Omeiron. He looked back towards Emily, 'I think it best for you to get some rest Emily. You needed to reserve your strength.'

Emily half smiled at him. 'Quite right.' She replied, 'Good night.'

Spock allowed her an imperceptible smile, 'Good night.'

...

It had been an hour and everything had stayed relatively quiet. Several times Spock had wondered over to check on Emily and found that her condition had deteriorated. Her breathing was heavy and she had lost a lot more blood, but there was nothing he could do to stop it, let alone remove the spike that had released poison into her system. It was, as Jim would say, lucky that she had survived this long. The girl certainly was a fighter.

He glanced over in Emily's direction again as a flicker of movement caught his eye. Almost to his disbelief a glowing humanoid figure stood bent over the top of Emily's prone figure. It looked up as Spock quickly got to his feet and aimed his phaser at it.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The figure froze as soon as Spock stood. It gave off a glowing white light and had long flowing hair and, overall, was humanoid. Her clothed moved around her as if they were floating. She raised her hands with deliberate slowness.

'Do not be alarmed Spock, I only come to help.'

Spock raised an eyebrow, 'Fascinating.' He remarked. 'May I ask who you are and how you come to know my name?'

The woman smiled, 'My name is Lyda and I know your name because I am, as people from this corner of the universe call us, a telepath.'

Spock raised his eyebrow once more. 'Forgive me but as you must also be aware, I too have telepathic abilities and would have been able to detect your presence in my mind.'

'My kind have developed subtle ways of gathering the information that we seek from others minds.' She smiled kindly, 'Now I believe you have a problem with your transporter system on the Enterprise?'

'That is correct.' Spock replied.

'I can easily fix that for you with a single thought if you wish.'

Spock stared into her glowing eyes that were brighter than the rest of her figure, 'And what do you wish in return?'

'Only that you continue your investigations into the creature that you encounted in the generator's tunnel system. There is more to the people who inhabit this planet that meets the eye, the two are connected in some way.'

'Very well, we will do so.' He tilted his head to one side, 'Are you in some way connected with the construction of the generators?'

The woman smiled once more, 'You are most correct Mr. Spock. Now, no more questions, all shall be explained soon. Repairs on your transporter system should be completed in two minutes and you can obtain some medical attention for this young lady.' She looked down at Emily, 'This one is strong, she carries star light in her wake. She will pull through.' And with that the glow that filled the cavern disappeared and the woman herself seemed to float away into nothingness.

For the third time Spock raised his eyebrow, 'Fascinating.'

...

'What the bloody hell is that?' Scott yelped, shocked. One moment he'd been working on the makeshift matter to energy transfer circuit and when he had blinked it was as if the whole thing had been replaced with an entirely new component.

He heard a muffled 'What!?' And a clatter of tools and the Doctor pulled his head out from inside the compartment he had been working in.

The pair looked at each other in disbelief. 'You saw that didn't ya?' Scotty asked.

'Yes, I did. The whole unit just kind of blinked out of existence and then was replaced with a whole new one.'

The Doctor got up and performed a quick diagnostic of the system. 'The whole system is working perfectly, as if it's brand new...'

'That cannae be possible...' The comm unit on the wall beeped, Scotty scrambled to his feet and flicked the switch. 'Scott here, sir.'

'Scotty, how's the transporter?' The Captain asked.

'Funny you ask that Captain, it's all fixed.'

There was a moment of silence followed and then, 'Are you sure about that Mr. Scott?' An incredulous sounding Kirk replied.

'Absolutely positive Captain. We just have to run a few more tests and we can beam Mr. Spock and Em back up.'

'Great work Scotty, and you too Doctor. Be as quick as you can. Kirk out.'

Scott snapped the switch on the comm unit back, 'Ouch, they talk as if we don't know that time is of the essence.' He said shaking his head.

...

Emily awoke with a start, if what she had been doing could be considered sleeping. It had been more a painful sort of state between being conscious and unconscious. One thing was for sure though, she felt awful. She looked up to see Spock crouching

beside her. 'What's up?' She murmured.

'I am just about to contact the Enterprise, the transporters have been fixed.'

Emily looked at him, puzzled. 'But how do you know if you haven't contacted them yet?'

He placed a placating hand on the top of her arm, 'I will explain it all to you later.' He pulled out his communicator just as it went off, 'Spock here.' He answered.

'Spock, this is the Enterprise, the transporter system is ready and operational and is locked on to your coordinates. Transport can begin when you give the command.'

'Acknowledged. Have Doctor McCoy meet us there.' Spock replied added.

Emily struggled to her feet with Spock's help. Once his hand had a secured grip around her waist he spoke into his communicator, 'Energize.' And the familiar feeling of displacement enveloped them both, different coloured lights flashing before their eyes.

...

It seemed like the transporter system was working even more efficiently that it had done before, if that was even possible, Scotty thought as he initiated the transfer. The Doctor had been summoned back up to the Bridge, and as much as he had wanted to stay to see if his companion was alright, he could not ignore the fact that his test results were ready and that he had to fulfill his terms of agreement with the Captain. When the pair materialized on the transporter pads, McCoy was already walking forward, tricorder in hand. 'My god man, what happened?' He looked at his readings, 'We should have bought a whole medical team down here, not just me!'

Spock helped Emily down off the pads, 'It would have added an unnecessary amount of people to the transporter room and your medical team may have been needed elsewhere.' He pulled Emily in front of him and looked down into her face while McCoy injected a hypospray into the side of her arm. 'Emily, I'm going to leave you with Doctor McCoy here and I'll come and visit you later. Please try your upmost to recover.' Emily nodded and gave him a small smile which he returned only slightly (as much as a Vulcan could) with his eyes. With this he handed her over to McCoy who hastily put his tricorder away. As they started out of the transporter room the comm unit on the wall beeped and Spock walked over to it. 'Spock here.'

The worried voice of the Doctor carried through over the intercom, 'How's Em? Is she alright? Do you need me to-' but Spock cut him off.

'She will be quite alright now that she is in the hands of Doctor McCoy. I am coming up to the Bridge now. Spock out.' He flipped the switch back and then turned to Scott, 'You are, doubtlessly, wondering how the transporter system came back online.'

'That's right sir.' Scott replied in bewilderment, 'How on earth did you know that?'

'I will explain once I have checked over the readings of the creature. I will contact you when the time comes.' Spock replied.

Scotty shook his head. Trust a Vulcan to leave him in suspense.


End file.
